Top five free things to do in London

You’ve got to hand it to London. English history seems to breathe through the stone monuments and buildings of bygone ages while ll around a melting pot of cultures and languages thrive and interact.

From classical music to grunge there is a musical night on offer for all tastes and enough cultural events to make you wonder when you will ever find the time to switch that television on again!

London just seems to have everything. It is home to the English parliament and to the economic heart of the UK at the Bank of England. Here you will find English opera, ballet and dance, as well as the best in sport: Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs for football, Lord’s cricket grounds and the impressive Twickenham rugby ground.

London is also the home of students from all over the world: more than 100,000 international students from over 200 different nations – that’s more international students enjoying all that London has to offer than grace the city boundaries of than in any other place in the world.

Students studying at leading London language school ESL UKhave put together their favourite free things to do in London: it does not have to cost the earth the experience the best London has to offer.

If you are looking to learn English in Londonhere’s where to experience London, practise your language skills and still have enough pounds for a night on the town!

1 British Museum

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So many museums are free in London but a hot favourite has to be the British Museum. It not only houses the Rosetta Stone, the controversial Elgin Marbles, mummies aplenty and artefacts from all over the world but it displays them in a building with the finest glass roof in the world.

2 Speakers’ Corner

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There really is ‘nowt as queer as folk’ and nothing as strange as some of the views vehemently espoused from Speakers’ Corner in the north-east corner of Hyde Park. If your English is up to it you can join in or just listen to the views that have been emanating from here since late Victorian times.

3 Crystal Palace Park

Tucked away in south London is this much-loved space that still takes its name from the giant Crystal Palace long since burnt down.

The remaining park offers a beautifully landscaped lake, surreal sculptures of dinosaurs and extinct mammals, open spaces to enjoy, sports stadiums, woodlands and more perfect picnic spots than there are scotch eggs in the world.

4 Royal Museums, Greenwich

Offering hilltop views, superb riverside settings and a world heritage status, Greenwich is a great free day out that is packed with cultural attractions.

The National Maritime Museum is free, most of the Royal Observatory is free and you can gaze on the marvellously restored Cutty Sark without having to run the London Marathon or pay a bean.

5 Horniman Museum

Forest Hill may be as far as you dare venture without falling off the tourist map of London but snuggling here in the green hills is a free delight. The Horniman is eclecticism at its best – a jack of all trades that manages to be a true master of all it touches.

Natural history forms its core but there are also aquariums, cultural oddities, unusual architecture, musical instruments, textiles, anthropological wonders and even fine gastronomy in the accompanying cafe.